1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a knitting machine for producing fully fashioned garments, in particular but not exclusively, fully fashioned garments including knitted rib welts.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional fully fashioned knitting machine, for example the Cotton Patented knitting machine, usually includes a pair of narrowing combs associated with each knitting head to enable widening/narrowing operations to be performed during knitting.
Conventionally the narrowing combs of each pair are fixedly mounted on an associated carried bar which is longitudinally displaced in a controlled manner to accurately position each comb for the widening/narrowing operation. Conventionally the drive force for moving each carrier bar longitudinally is achieved by mechanical means such as cams and levers.
Such mechanical means are relatively slow in operation, require constant maintenance and are noisy in operation.
One aim of the present invention is to overcome or substantially reduce the disadvantages associated with mechanical drive means for the narrowing combs.
In the production of fully fashioned garments, it is common practice to knit rib welts on a rib knitting machine, such as a V-bed knitting machine and then to transfer the knitted welt to a fully fashioned knitting machine for knitting of the remainder of the garment. Transfer of the knitted welt is achieved by transferring the knitted rib on to a transfer bar which comprises a rigid elongate body having a comb of transfer needles or points spaced along its length. The loaded transfer bar is then transferred to a fully fashioned knitting machine whereat the knitted rib welt is transferred onto the knitting needles of the fully fashioned knitting machine. The rib knitting machine can produce finished knitted rib welts at a faster rate than the fully fashioned knitting machine requires and so it is common practice to locate the rib knitting machines and fully fashioned knitting machines at different sites and store the knitted rib welts on the transfer bars in readiness for loading onto the fully fashioned knitting machine.
It is a general aim of the present invention to provide a knitting machine which renders more efficient the production of fully fashioned garments comprising knitted rib welts and knitted body fabric which are knitted on different machines.